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Evolution & Human Origins

We bring you all the latest news and discoveries relating to human origins and evolution. The more fossils that are unearthed, the more researchers admit that there is much that is still unknown about the evolution of humans.

Study from international team of researchers shows introduced hippos in Colombia can restore a lost world. Left: Mugshot of Pablo Escobar. Right: A representation of hippo in a river.       Source: Left; Colombian National Police / Public domain, Right; Carl / Adobe stock

Could Pablo Escobar’s Hippos in Colombia Restore a Lost World?

University of Massachusetts A study from an international team of researchers including UMass Amherst biologist John Rowan shows introduced species (e.g. hippos in Colombia) can restore a lost world...
The fins of this fish played a role in the origins of the human hand. Source: Katrina Kenny, Author provided

This Ancient Four-Limbed Fish Reveals the Origins of the Human Hand

By John Long & Richard Cloutier / The Conversation One of the most significant events in the history of life was when fish evolved into tetrapods , crawling out of the water and eventually...
Little Foot’s skull, with the arrow on the right-hand image indicating the specimen’s atlas.      Source: R.J. Clarke/Author supplied

Little Foot’s Skeleton Adds To Human Evolution Story

Amélie Beaudet / The Conversation In his book Wonderful Life , Professor Stephen Jay Gould – an evolutionary biologist, paleontologist and widely-read popular science author – described the evolution...
Individual XVIII teeth from la Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca. Source: M. Modesto-Mata / CENIEH

Atapuerca Hominids Grew Much Quicker Than Modern Humans

Scientists have proven that tooth enamel developed much quicker in ‘other’ hominids groups. Fossilized bones and teeth tell scientists when organisms lived, and morphological differences provide...
Amber holds the secret to the tiny world of the age of dinosaurs.  Source: Xing Lida, CC BY-ND / The Conversation

This Tiny Predator Existed Alongside the Giant Dinosaurs

By Lars Schmitz & Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor / The Conversation In 2016, our colleague Xing Lida held up a small piece of polished, deeply yellow amber. As sunlight shone through the ancient resin...
This small, gracile, almost complete cranium was found near Homo erectus tools in Ethiopia. Source: Dr. Michael J. Rogers, Southern Connecticut State University

Homo Erectus Tools Challenge Single Species-Single Tech Thinking

Even a million and a half years ago, our ancestors understood that sometimes you need a simple hammerstone and other times a finely-made hand axe would better suit the task in front of you. New...
Human interaction accelerates innovation.   Source: (Image: beamue/ UZH)

Cooperation Between Hunter-gatherers Accelerated Human Evolution

Humans began developing a complex culture as early as the Stone Age . This development was brought about by social interactions between various groups of hunters and gatherers, a UZH study has now...
Image of human foot demonstrating the arch.          Source: Alessandro Grandini

Scientists Study 3.5-Million-Year-Old Origins of Unique Human Spring

Scientists have proven the arch running across the top of the human foot evolved in a 3.5-million-year old human ancestor, enabling us to walk and run upright unlike all other primates. Sports...
Ancient couple

Super Archaic Humans Mixed with Unknown 'Ghost' Species

Do you remember those school science posters that depicted human evolution with a primate standing up and becoming a modern human? Of course you do, but you may not have noticed that these posters...
Depiction of a volcano erupting to show what the eruption at Budj Bim could have looked like.           Source: SiriusRzn / Adobe stock

Is the Aboriginal Budj Bim Volcano Tale the World’s Oldest Story?

Researchers investigating the date of human settlement in Australia have made an amazing discovery. They analyzed geological data in relation to the oral tradition of local Aboriginal people, and it...
Neanderthal ancestry found in Africans.        Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

Neanderthal Ancestry Detected in Africans For the First Time

When the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, using DNA collected from ancient bones, it was accompanied by the discovery that modern humans in Asia, Europe and America inherited approximately 2%...
Original position of the skeletal remains inside submerged cave of Muknal.    Source: Jerónimo Avilés /© 2020 Hubbe et al CC BY 4.0

First Americans Were More Diverse Than Thought

Scientists are claiming current theories “over-simplify” how the Americas were populated. Many of us were once taught that the Americas were void of humans until around 13,000 years ago. Authors like...
Devil footprints’ on the Ciampate del Diavolo.          Source: Edmondo Gnerre / CC BY 2.0

Walking Into Danger? Italian Devil’s Footprints Mystery Revealed

An ancient set of footprints commonly known as the ‘ devil footprints ’ on the side of an extinct volcano have long frightened and intrigued people in southern Italy . In reality, it was thought that...
Excavation of archaeological deposits in Chagyrskaya Cave indicate long distance  nomadic Neanderthals traveled from Europe.

Stone Tools Reveal Epic Trek of Nomadic Neanderthals

Kseniya Kolobova et al / The Conversation Neanderthal ( Homo neanderthalensis ) fossils were first discovered in western Europe in the mid nineteenth century. That was just the first in a long line...
The Shum Laka rock shelter in Cameroon, home to an ancient population that bears little genetic resemblance to most people who live in the region today.    Source: Pierre de Maret

Ancient DNA From West Africa Reveals ‘Ghost’ Lineage

Saint Louis University Africa is the homeland of our species and harbors greater human genetic diversity than any other part of the planet. Studies of ancient DNA from African archaeological sites...
A fossil of Parioscorpio venator, a 437-million-year-old scorpion that resembles modern species. Source: Wendruff et al., Scientific Reports, 2020

This Scorpion Was Among the First Lifeforms to Walk on Earth

Almost half a billion years ago Earth was largely inhabited by armored arthropods with segmented bodies and jointed limbs, shelled mollusks, and wobbly unrecognizable fishlike organisms darting about...
Neanderthal tools included shell scrapers. Source: procy_ab & Comugnero Silvana / Adobe Stock

Coastal Neanderthals Went Diving For Tools

Neanderthals are known to have used tools, but the extent to which they were able to exploit coastal resources has been questioned. New research shows they collected clam shells and volcanic rock...
Colorful Indian Kangayam Holy Cow ready for pongal festival.           Source: pradeep/ Adobe stock

Happy Pongal! The Ancient Indian Festival That Honors Nature

Many societies celebrate the changing of the seasons and harvest time. One of the most elaborate festivals in India is the Lohri, better known as the Pongal. This is a four-day Hindu festival that...
A capuchin monkey in Brazil hoists a stone tool to crack open nuts.    Source: Luca Antonio Marino / CC BY-ND 4.0

Monkeys Smashing Nuts Hint at How Human Toolmaking Evolved

Kristen S. Morrow / The Conversation Human beings used to be defined as “the tool-maker” species. But the uniqueness of this description was challenged in the 1960s when Dr. Jane Goodall discovered...
Deceased mammoth

Did Ice Age Extinctions Force Us to Invent Civilization?

Nick Longrich / The Conversation Why did we take so long to invent civilization? Modern Homo sapiens first evolved roughly 250,000 to 350,000 years ago. But initial steps towards civilization –...
Sunrise over plantation, representation of lost crop field.       Source: somkak / Adobe stock

The Revival of Ancient Lost Crops Reveals Surprising Results

The scientific cultivation of lost ancient seed crops has yielded much higher than expected growth rates, challenging assumptions about maize (corn) growth in prehistoric North America . According to...
Southwest Africa, one of the places of human origins. Source: mezzotint_fotolia / Adobe Stock.

New Findings Change the Theories of Human Origins

The evolution and spread of Homo sapiens is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in all of science. Until recently, it was believed that the origins of the species and the ancestors of every person...
Keto Queen Makes Millions with Ancient Indian Ghee

Keto Queen Makes Millions with Ancient Indian Ghee

Ancient Indian ghee butter has been turned into gold by a Brazilian entrepreneur. Raquel Tavares, who lives in Los Angeles, California , founded the company Fourth & Heart with her life savings...
Border Cave Excavation site, Lebombo Mountains, South Africa.        Source: Credit Dr Lucinda Backwell/ Wits University

170,000-Year-Old Human Diet Contained Roast Vegetables

New research focused on the roasted remnants of rootstalks found in a Lebombo Mountain cave in South Africa suggests early humans brought the plants to the cave to feed to their young and old. A new...

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